Bringing collectors of The Dukes of Hazzard together. See my collection at DukesCollector.com

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

The complete Johnny Lightning Dukes of Hazzard line: Series 3

Our look at the Johnny Lightning Dukes of Hazzard line continues with series 3.

Released in later 2007, the package design did not differ much from Series 2. It kept the standard Modern Era design.

This series is also limited to 10,000 and has stickers this time, where the last two sets had magnets

.

The first car in the series is Molly Hargrove's Plymouth Road Runner. It appeared in the episode "Bird's Gotta Fly." In that episode, Daisy is offered a spot on the NASCAR circuit to race her old friend Molly's car. The episode is different from the normal episodes because it involves Daisy struggling with the idea of leaving the farm. She races the car once, but in the end decides Hazzard is her home and she can't leave.

I am not sure what the actual sponsor's decals said in the episode, but the fact the JL added Cooter's Garage to the car maket is one of those little additions that make this line great. It is weird that this car has no windshield.

Number 2 in this series is the General Lee. By Series 3, they nailed the General. This is the best representation of the "flying orange clunker car" in 1/64 scale. The wheels are right, the push bar is there. This is the car we've been looking for. In future series, they just made different versions, and they did not top this one.

Uncle Jesse finally got some 1/64 love in this series. His white pickup, which was a staple of the series, had never been made in 1/64 before. It did appear in the 1/144 line. On the show, Jesse was a Ford man. His truck differed from time to time being a '74 to '77 F150. This one is a Chevy. At least it's white. I really don't know why the interior is blue.

Enos' also got his first vehicle in this series. And it's not a standard police car (yet). This is the race car he drove against the General in the season 1 episode Luke's Love Story. Perhaps Enos is a Hines Ward fan, like us all, and chose the number 86 for that reason. For every series of this line, I bought un-opened cases so I had a shot at finding a White Lightning. This is the only one I got. I'm not complaining, because I've talked to other collectors who did the same and didn't get a single one.

JL started making surrounding County's patrol cars. The first was The Finchburg County Sheriff's car. This is from the episode Baa, Baa White Sheep where we discover Boss Jefferson Davis Hogg had a good twin who wore all black named Abraham Lincoln Hogg. Love the Dukes.

The famous Double Zero also made its debut in this series. By now we all know that this car never actually appeared on the show. It was in the 1997 reunion movie. It is billed as the only car to ever beat the General in an overland race. It had been released previously in 1/64 by Ertl/Racing Champions as well as 1/18 scale. The past 1/64s ranged from pretty good to laughable. This one is great. This car is another effort by JL to right the wrongs of diecast past. This is the best 00 Mustang in this scale.

The stickers that came with each car are, again, not car specific. But they are very nice additions to the collection.

As I mentioned before, the White Lightning versions of these cars go for unreasonably high prices. I simply can't afford to collect them. The previous WL versions of the General in Series 1 and 2 were just the same car with white tires. I guess they decided to mix it up and Series 3 saw an all white General. I had to get this one. It is so cool to see the General Lee done like this. Early auctions and reports called this the Ghost of the General Lee, but it quickly became clear that it was a WL. The Ghost was yet to come. See you soon for Series 4.